They got together in the conference room, the place everyone naturally went to once they noticed that something was wrong. Aclysia was currently handing John a damp, heated towel with which he wiped his face off. A few chairs over, Beatrice was handing Eliza her robes. Rave looked very annoyed with the world, as she had been woken up by this commotion. “Who and why?” the techno lover wanted to know.

“Well, I have no idea,” John looked over to Lydia, who shook her head to signal that she had no additional information herself. “And we can’t consult the internet either, this fog blocks the signals.”

“Which is the WORST!” Scarlett slammed her glass on the table and poured herself a new one immediately. This situation greatly went against the androgynous Technomancer’s preferences and John could only imagine that she was rather nervous at this current moment. Someone who created a giant network to use as communication control would feel predictably vulnerable in these circumstances. Hastily glancing around with her red eyes, no circuitry to be seen inside them, Scarlett looked like she expected one of them to jump at her at any given moment and murder her.

Having no access to the internet had always been a massive inconvenience to John, but to Scarlett it meant that she was basically a normal human in a room full of people that could break her like a twig. It was barely even comparable.

“Relax,” John tried to soothe her by talking in a clear tone, “this is not aimed at you.” A large part of him liked seeing that even she had something that would scare her. That knowledge was weighed against her current state, however, and even if learning more about her was nice in its way, he did prefer her in the collected state. Didn’t seem that he would get that, as Scarlett forewent the glass and just went for the bottle.

The fact that she downed the second half of it in one go, guzzling it down like an old engine did with gasoline, was pretty impressive. “Don’t you worry,” she stated, putting the empty bottle next to the glass, “I am perfectly calm. Now go ahead, tell us what is going on then.”

John doubted both her statement and that she would still be able to listen in a couple of minutes. Chances were Scarlett wouldn’t even remember this conversation. When she went for a smoke, Aclysia was ready to do the usual thing, but her master stopped her with a plead. ‘Just this once,’ he told her. It wasn’t like she should head out under the current circumstances. They therefore let her sit there and cope in silence.

“So, here is the entire situation,” the Gamer began. “We are surrounded by some immensely thick fog, we aren’t moving anymore and I cannot steer the ship.” His first instinct had been to check the map and navigate towards the coastline. However, all instruments were failing and something was pushing against the engine. John had put it out to conserve energy; now the ship was perfectly still in the water.

As to why the instruments were useless, the answer could easily be found in the fog. “Metra and Beatrice headed out to see if there was anything onboard that could have been causing this. They headed back in immediately upon noticing electricity in the air,” both of the heavily advanced constructs nodded. “In short, we are stuck in some sort of lightning field.”

“Okay,” Rave was slowly getting fully awake, but a cat disturbed during napping was a very angry cat and the same was true for the Lightbearer, “but who and why?”

“No idea,” John admitted. “I didn’t get a pop-up for entering a barrier, so this must be some advanced trap stuff,” he theorized, “but we didn’t get any demands for our freedom yet, neither is this ambush particularly dangerous.”

“It certainly doesn’t seem like a man-made trap,” Lydia agreed. “The ship’s insulation will keep us safe from the fog as long as we keep the windows closed. Oxygen won’t be a problem for a long time given the size. We can generate water via magic. Food seems to be the only long-term problem we may run into.”

“Well, I do have a greenhouse,” John puffed up his cheeks and then slowly let the air out, “buuuuut, I wouldn’t recommend eating what is inside there thoughtlessly.”

The queen raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“I used the Ascended Hoe of Hoes there,” John answered. He had possessed that thing for an eternity but only when getting that greenhouse did he get a chance to use it. The crops harvested from that soil would cause short-term heat and a permanent Libido increase by one point, stacking up to three times. Neither John nor most of his girls gave any tosh about three extra points of the lust stat, and so he couldn’t wait for the first harvest and the result gourmet/orgy. Aphrodisiac plants sounded strictly amazing.

“Ah,” Lydia may not have known just how exactly that thing worked, but the name was more than enough indication. “Then we are bound by that which Aclysia has in the fridge.”

“Okay, okay,” Rave tapped a heel on the ground in an unnervingly quick beat, “none of that matters though, since we aren’t staying for long. Or do ya wanna lose your vacation time to sitting in the fog?”

That was a good point. John was reminded that this whole affair was going to delay him from punctually arriving at his mother’s place, which would lead to complications given that he had made an appointment with a company in Washington. “Yeah, we should resolve this sooner rather than later,” John agreed and formulated a plan to deal with this.

If this was truly a natural barrier, the question was which kind of monster was living here and how to beat it. The most important thing they needed at the current moment was information about what they were dealing with. Given the outside conditions, Sylph could scout effectively. As a thunderstorm elemental, the damage she would take from the lightning would be a lot lower. It wouldn’t be null, elemental immunities were an immensely rare thing, but it shouldn’t be too bad. In addition, she could teleport back if things went south.

Whether the enemies were flying, swimming or both and what exactly they were would then dictate their continued strategy. “Beatrice, Aclysia, can you also patrol the ship?” John asked them but not Metra because they possessed the same safety net as Sylph. The last thing John needed was something smashing the windows in from the outside. ‘I should have underwater windows installed,’ he thought; that’d make this whole thing way easier.

The appointed trio headed out and left the rest of the crew sitting on their asses and waiting. They had some normal talks about this and that topic until a drunken voice interrupted. “Ya know, “Thish whole thing shucks,” predictably, Scarlett was pretty hammered at this point. John wasn’t quite sure where she suddenly got a beer from, but she put a whole six-pack on the table just as she extinguished her third cigarette inside the glass. “I wash jusht thinking about looking into poisons’n’stuff when this whole thing started.”

“Sure?” John asked in the confused but patient tone the sober had for the most drunk.

“I fahking hate using poisn,” she swallowed the last vowel in that word and suppressed a small burp in reaction. “But I just can’t figure out how to murder you, and the worsht thing ish, I haven’t actually tried all day today becaush I keep thinking about that thing you said.”

“What thing he said?” Rave asked with a wide smile. She was just asking for the fun of it, of course her boyfriend had told her exactly what he had been doing in regards to the harem growth.

“He had the… the audacity to jusht state I like him,” the fact that Scarlett didn’t get that the Lightbearer was obviously teasing her spoke to the mind-numbing capacity of alcohol to put even the greatest of minds down to the level of a brick wall. “And the fucker ish right, what an asshole.”

Lydia nodded, “I prefer the term dick, in contrast, but John is certainly overly enthusiastic in matters at times.” The queen gave him the slightest of smiles.

“Love you too, Lydia,” the Gamer chuckled; he could take the jabs.

“That’sh so weird,” Scarlett stated. “That you can have all of us here and just like all of us. Probably a man, thing. Y’all are built to fuck as many cunts as you can after all.” She lighted yet another cigarette. Even though her motions were dulled from her drunken state, they were precise for that action.

“Can’t speak for every guy out there, but yeah, probably,” John shrugged. “Anyway, nice to hear you admit you like me.”

“Shut the fuck up about it,” Scarlett demanded, pointing her lighter at him. “I will still do my own thing, you hear me. I want my power and my money, not partake in your power and your money. We are partners and I refuse to be anything less than in control of my own destiny.” That part sounded surprisingly sober, John even thought she was already recovering for a hot second there. “Bedroom domination ish fine though, I like that… fuck it, I will shuck your dick right now!”

“I am very sure that’s a bad idea,” John warned in a worried tone and was immediately proven right when Scarlett got up and immediately face planted a moment later, much to the amusement of most of the gathered people.

The person that laughed the loudest was conversely also the one that got up to help her. “No cocksucking while ass-fucking drunk as a sailor in Britain,” Eliza giggled as she pulled the Technomancer up and lent her her shoulder. A shadow of dislike over the physical closeness to her hushed over the blood mage’s face, ever the misanthrope, but she overcame that.

“What makes sailors in Britain drink more?” John asked.

“Ugly fucking women,” Eliza answered. Well, that was a common thing people said about the island nation. “Anyway, I am more useless than a basket case in a horse race around here, so I will fuck off and take Scarly the Drunklett here with me.” She readjusted the redhead over her shoulder, who groaned at the sudden movement, seemed like she was now experiencing the full weight of her decision. “Shouldn’t have drank the whole bottle, you alcoholic slut. Now, us masochistic whores are going to watch some shitty shows I have downloaded. Know that I am envious as fuck that I don’t get to murder something today… again.” With that the two of them took their leave. Well, one of them left and dragged the other person with her.

“I like Drunklett,” Rave commented.

“The name or the person?” John asked.

“Yes,” Rave cheekily closed one eye and stuck out her pierced tongue.

The Gamer had walked right into that one, “…Figures.” He turned inside to check on the people outside. ‘Anything yet?’

‘Nothing on board, I think,’ Aclysia reported; it was hard to make any real judgement on the situation as she was unable to look further than a metre ahead of herself.

‘At least I don’t hear anything,’ Beatrice reported something to the same effect at the same time.

‘Can feel something moving in the air, yep, yep,’ Sylph told them. ‘Can’t find them though. Sadness, they feel long and noodly, danger sky noodles, nooooooodleeeees,’ she giggled, ‘that’s a funny word.’

That was progress. So something was in the air. John hesitated to ask, but he still wanted the full picture, ‘Can you check if there is anything in the water?’ He would have sent Undine out to do that, but the ocean elemental was much slower and more susceptible for electrical damage. ‘Just fly up to the surface and see if something reacts. Be ready to retreat.’

‘Sure thing, boss, no, wait, what do concubines say to their… boss? I don’t know. My existence is a lie! My confusion is great!’ raking her tiny brain with the unimportant question, the fairy sized elemental did as John requested before he could tell her to concentrate on the task at hand. The moment she was even remotely close to the water, jaws suddenly lunged upwards.

Teeth like needles went past her as an elongated creature swallowed her whole. While inside the creature, Sylph was rubbing her chin like an intellectual in deep thought. ‘A concubine is like a side girl for a guy, right? So, would I address John as a my guy? Nah, nah, no, nah, nah – BATMAN! Thought-bubble gasp! I could call him Batman! Jolly gosh darn it, Batman, wait, does that make me Robin? Would I look good in a Robin outfit? Yes, yeah, sure, of course I would, I am adorable, I would look good in a sack.’

‘SYLPH!’ John shouted out to her, barely able to follow what she thought because of how quick each word drove by. ‘You are being eaten!’

‘Whaaaaaaaaat? Nooooooooo!’ Sylph answered. ‘Just because it suddenly got warm, and wet and there is flesh all around me and…’ she suddenly became subject to a slow dissolving process, the Abyssal creature that had eaten her was absolutely able to process pure magic. ‘I AM BEING DIGESTED! Waaaah! It’s eating me!’

The thunderstorm elemental tried to turn big to get out, but apparently the world didn’t like it if she tried to upsize like that while there was stuff blocking her. ‘Ewwwww,’ Sylph was hit by a large batch of mucus and then officially had enough of this. Her body began to glow in pale blue light, electricity dancing over the surface, as she concentrated lightning within herself.

While these creatures were likely the source of the mist’s charged up nature, there was a massive difference between the insulation required to be unbothered by their own AoE effect and being hit by the might of a Tier 4 air elemental from inside the stomach.

The monster must have been quite pleased with itself, feeling like it had take the first stock of the hunt. Instead it learned what it was like to swallow a power plant, its insides rapidly turning into a well-cooked mass of Lichtenberg figures.

With jagged movements, like a lightning bolt rushing around, Sylph burst out of the creature and grabbed it by the teeth as she made her way back. It flapped in the drag of her movements, but Sylph didn’t care. A few moments later, she was back on the ship. Being able to sense her summoner’s location at all times made navigating possible even in this deep fog.

Aclysia and Beatrice also returned, opening the door for the air spirit to throw her predator turned prey onto the conference table. The wood was not happy with this and creaking accompanied the slapping sound of the dead monster hitting the table.

It was an eel the size of a grown man. A pretty thick, grey body was beset with a crest of yellow membranes that allowed it to wiggle its way through the water effectively. Segmenting that membrane were several horns of a darker colour, extending slightly outside and exuding small jolts of electricity even as John touched the creature curiously. Aside from the snake-like body, it was effectively only a large mouth with long, pointy teeth.

Trying to use Observe only netted John information about the corpse as an item. Neither level nor actual hunting information was given, which was a bit annoying, but at least he got a name, one that really begged the question about who picked it, “Thunder Noodles… who and why?”